While most preppers do take the threat of a financial crisis, a solar flare, or even a zombie apocalypse very seriously, there are many benefits to prepping even if these TEOTWAWKI situations never come about in our lifetimes.
Many of the criticisms non-preppers make of preppers have to do with the fact that preppers seem “paranoid” about the future and apocalyptic, end of the world situations that probably won’t even come about in their lifetimes. What these people fail to see is that prepping has a phenomenal number of benefits for preppers even if these apocalyptic situations don’t end up taking place. The vast majority of preps will help in difficult situations that commonly arise in life.
Here are 28 reasons why, even if the end of the world doesn’t come, preppers will still benefit from prepping.
Reasons to Prep Even If You Don’t Think TEOTWAWKI is Coming
1. Prepping saves money.
If you believe in being frugal in any way, and see it wise to save money for your future or the future of your children, prepping is taking those savings one huge step further. Having a stockpile at home ensure you won’t have to pay full price again for items that go on sale – you’ll be fine holding off until the next time you see a discount. And if you’re into being completely off the grid, you’ll be saving money on groceries, electricity, water bills, and all the rest of your utilities for years to come!
2. Prepping prevents waste.
Hate to see things thrown away just because they’re a little old? Don’t like throwing out items that may be useful in the future, even though you’ll never go so far as to be a hoarder? You’re probably already a prepper at heart. If it’s useful and you might need it, save it!
3. Prepping can help you stay fit.
While not every prepper will get fit working on their preps, if you’re working on specific preps, like gardening, chopping wood, and hunting, you’re much more likely to stay in shape, especially if you work on them on a regular basis.
4. Hedges against inflation.
Whether or not you like it, prices for everyday goods – food, household supplies, toiletries, etc. – will go up over time due to inflation. A stockpile will provide a hedge against this economic inflation.
5. Economic depressions.
Sure, there may not be a worldwide or even national financial crisis that wipes out the economy as we know it in one fell swoop, but that doesn’t mean that another depression won’t do some serious damage to your network of friends and family. Keep the ones you love safe by preparing before things start getting bad.
6. Natural disasters.
From floods to earthquakes to terrible snow storms and more – natural disasters happen and you absolutely cannot do anything to prevent them from taking place. The best thing you can do for yourself and for your family is to prepare for the worst: have a plan and some preps ready in case a natural disaster comes your way.
7. House fires.
It’s a terrible thing to think about, but it certainly could happen. If you’ve prepared in advance, you’ll have copies of your important documents in other locations, and while the loss will still be significant, it won’t be devastating.
8. Power outages.
These are especially bad if you happen to live in a city or town that gets very cold in the winter, and if that’s when the electrical grid happens to go down. This was our situation last year, when the Toronto power grid went down leaving us with no electricity (or heat!) for 5 nights and 4 days. Not pleasant, and any additional preparations go very far in situations like these.
9. Evacuation.
There are times where a town or city needs to be completely evacuated. What happens to you then? Do you have a bug out bag in your car ready in case of an emergency like this? If not, what will you do for food and water?
10. Vehicle problems.
Cars break down. Trucks do, too. What happens if you’re stranded on the side of a pretty deserted highway with no phone reception and no snacks or extra water bottles in the trunk. You’re going to really wish you had some extra food and water packed. And if you live someplace cold and there just happens to be a winter storm, well you’re straight out of luck if you didn’t bring some extra blankets as well.
11. Survival situations.
That car scenario could go from being bad (waiting a number of hours) to worse (waiting a number of days) if no one shows up looking for you because they don’t realize you’re missing, and no cars drive by any time soon. Survival situations don’t just happen to wayward campers who got lost wandering off, away from their base: they can happen to city-dwellers, too. And bug out bag in your vehicle along with some emergency food and water supplies could really go a long way to making sure you stay alive until you’re rescued.
12. Dealing with minor financial emergencies becomes a breeze.
Roof leaking? Got a flat tire? No problem. That emergency cash stockpile will help you get by without even breaking a sweat.
13. Dealing with major financial emergencies is much easier.
Car completely broke down and you need a new one to be able to get to work and pay the bills? Dropping all that cash unexpectedly will likely be a little rough, but it certainly won’t be as bad as if you hadn’t prepared for a financial emergency at all. You can use the emergency funds saved up and live off your food stockpile for a while to cut down on grocery bills.
14. Security against job loss.
Sure your job seems quite stable today, but who knows what could happen down the line? What happens to you if a year or two from now, your company needs to downsize or goes out of business? Prepping allows you to be secure even if you lose that job you’ve held for years.
15. Security against underemployment.
Similarly, just in case you temporarily can’t get enough work hours to be able to put food on the table anymore, those garden and food stockpile preps will really come in handy.
16. Health problems.
If the main earner in the family begins suffering from health issues and can no longer work, your preps will easily be able to hold you over until you can figure out what to do next.
17. Death of a family member.
No one wants to think about it, but if for some absolutely terrible reason, the main earner in your family passes away, what will happen to your family? Prepping can protect you from having an awful situation get even worse.
18. Never need to go to bed hungry.
Grocery store closed early? Left work very late and can’t afford expensive take out? Your food preps will make sure you never go to bed hungry.
19. Never run out of household supplies.
Similarly, if you’ve got a huge stockpile of household supplies ready, you’ll never run out of toilet paper, tissue paper, hygiene products, etc. – not even if there’s a severe snow storm that could last for days. You’ve got it all at home already, so you’re set.
20. Helps you become independent.
You won’t need government support and you certainly won’t need to run to your family or friends for help if you’re prepping. Hell, if you’ve got your garden and livestock preps set, you won’t even care if the grocery store closes. If the worst happens, you can handle it.
21. Allows you to help family and friends (without going broke).
Just because you won’t need help, doesn’t mean others won’t. Sometimes family and friends will have emergencies that you’ll really want to aid them with. If you’re on solid footing yourself, it will be no problem for you to lend them a hand, whether that’s financially or with some support via gifting them some of your stockpiled supplies and food.
22. Retirement can be easier to come by.
Retirement is something you have to plan ahead for. If you weren’t thinking about it until a few years before you turned 65, chances are, you really aren’t going to get the chance to retire at 65 after all. If you’ve been preparing for retirement for a long time, you’ll get that chance, and maybe even much earlier than you expected. Depends on how self-sufficient you can get yourself to be.
23. Builds self-confidence.
Think about it. Even if the worst happens, you and your family will still be okay. What’s not to be confident about!
24. Gives you peace of mind.
Similarly, if you’re confident you’re able to withstand nearly anything that life can throw your way, you’ll sleep much better at night.
25. Sense of accomplishment.
You’re not wasting your days in front of the TV after work hours. You’re using it to plan ahead and prepare for the future. You’re using your extra time to provide an enormous safety net both for yourself and your family. That’s nothing to take lightly – it’s serious accomplishment.
26. Helps bring families closer together.
It’s a pretty obvious observation – families that prep together seem to be a lot more connected than those that do not. And why wouldn’t they be? More time spent together prepping is valuable bonding time, on top of being valuable education for the kids.
27. Passing on the prepper mindset helps generations to come.
Along similar lines, since you’ve benefited so much from prepping, if you’re passing on your skills and knowledge to your children, you’re also helping them benefit from prepping in the very same way. Since they’ll likely teach their children how to prep as well, what you’re doing is essentially helping to assure that your children’s children’s children will have the security brought about by the prepper lifestyle. Quite a gift to give your descendants.
28. Ultimately, prepping brings freedom.
With enough preps under your belt, your independence will translate into a great deal of freedom. Hell, with an adequate garden and some livestock, a stockpile of household supplies, as well as a financial emergency fund prepped, you can even quit your day job if you want to.
More Benefits to Prepping?
Experienced benefits to prepping that aren’t listed here? Know a few more perks to being a prepper that happen regardless of the fact that TEOTWAWKI has not yet come around? Let us know in the comments.
Thank you, Elise; you brought up a lot of good points I had yet to consider. =>
Now, Don… Just because Elise (or any woman) is pretty doesn’t mean she relies on her looks to get by… Lots of pretty women are extremely capable. This reminder may save your life if it causes you to think twice before remarking on the good looks of a crackerjack female prepper who’s about to save your butt WTSHTF!
I work with a guy who turns his nose up at prepping. “Oh… you’re one of those people? I think it’s a waste of time and money…” Normally I don’t really care about people’s opinions, but this guy consistently says this. So I started simply responding, “So what do you do with your money and free time that’s so much more worthwhile?” And that starts some introspection… most people, at this point, realize they aren’t doing anything that’s so much more amazing or better… that, by not prepping, they aren’t enjoying a life that is so much more amazing. I continued my retort, “I keep bees, run a small hobby farm, can make my own beer without a kit, mead, and even distill alcohol (sssshhhhh, don’t tell anyone)… none of your hobbies are anywhere close to being as interesting as mine.”
Oh god this – “So what do you do with your money and free time that’s so much more worthwhile?” !! Smart! :) I like it a lot. Maybe I should open with that from now on.
I actually love this way of dealing with the issue. It’s pretty genius. People waste their money on a lot of stuff, and can never really remember where it goes. And of course 100% you are right about the fact that prepper hobbies are usually a lot more interesting than regular people’s.. which are usually just the same as everybody else’s and not even really hobbies, just things they spend a lot of time doing.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
I’m a fairly casual ‘bug-in’ sort of ‘grey man’ prepper. Virtually no one who knows me knows I am at all better prepped than anyone else, and even I don’t really see myself as a prepper. I just happen to keep a large food and consumables stock rotating, that and have various other tools and conveniences available to me. But with just that, virtually every one of your points applies to me or has applied at some point.
I’ve weathered disaster scenarios that have killed other people, and it’s been simply an opportunity to catch up on reading, in comfort. My job situation has rarely been steady but I can go months without, so it’s never stressful. Chief among the benefits though to me is the money I save. I literally spend half as much as most on food and consumables. And that is really with virtually no extra effort.
The benefits are profound, and the effort nil. There is no reason everyone shouldn’t do at least as do I, other than ignorance, that and an utterly erroneous belief that they can’t afford it. If money is tight, you can’t afford not to.
Impressive that you’ve gotten the whole savings-on-groceries down that much! Good on you.
I agree that the benefits are profound. Maybe the effort takes some work in the first place, but it certainly gets easier as you go and cheaper and cheaper as you take advantage of your preps.
100% agree with that last statement: “If money is tight, you can’t afford not to.”
Great read Elise, going to share this.
Thanks, Eric! :) I know, I’m late replying, as usual. See you on the forum!
To dan seven and Elise Xavier et all others About Control
My life verse is:
“If ones mind can understand the WHY, it will design it won HOW.”
Prepping is about learning Skill sets, being able to take that basic skill one more advance level. As an example, Preserving as in canning and or dehydrating the produce from garden or Farmers Market bulk deals. Butchering and processing the Live stock one has raise, or the game one has hunted.
During Stress, being mental or external forces as in a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI, one will revert back to the highest level of training one has received. So if someone know how (mental) to do something and has experience (physical) in this Skill Set the higher the survivability this person or group will be.
“So if someone know how (mental) to do something and has experience (physical) in this Skill Set the higher the survivability this person or group will be.” << this is excellently put. Agree completely.
I had to laugh when I read %WarVeterns comment. That is my rule for life and it seems that “the powers that be” agree with me. The only houseplant I can keep alive is aloe (and that is a great first aid plant). Everything else DIES. But my veggie garden? I can feed 3 families on the produce out there. (Just now getting into perennial planting of fruit and nut trees, berries and grapes, but the apple trees had fruit the third year after planting. So edible landscaping is my motto)
Aloe is also incredibly resilient. It can go sooo long without watering – nuts.
Nice work on your veggie garden! Would love to see pictures of your backyard!
A surprising number of things are actually edible: many flowers, the roots of yucca and elephant ear/taro plants (yucca can also be turned into soap!), even many acorns once you’ve boiled out the bitter tannins. I think the most important thing is to learn what edibles grow easily in your area, because in an emergency you probably won’t have the luxury of coddling high-maintenance plants, even if they are big producers right now.
Adopt a new rule. Do not plant it if you cannot eat it.
Only in America do we have front yards. Most everywhere else “yards” are for gardens.
I like that a lot.
My family likes to bug my father about his spare pantry closet full of non parishables, his water supply and his fuel for vehicles and butane stove. But no one was laughing last month when the hydro poll outside was struck by lighting and set on fire, leaving them (including his elderly mother who was quite sick at the time) without power.
“Soup? No problem”
“Hot bath? No problem”
“Heat? No problem”
Do I think the apocalypse is coming? Probably not. But I do think being prepared for the type of things that have been ruining people’s lives for hundreds or thousands of years is a sign of intelligence. So I pay no mind to those who think nothing could ever happen to them.
Great story, Paul, and I of course agree with you 100%.
I sure hope your family stopped bugging your father about that spare pantry now that they’ve seen the good use it can be put to!
Ok, these are a lot of great reasons..
I searched for the word “control” in this article and did not find it.
Control for me seems to be a litmus test that helps me to determine whether or not I have my “stuff” together.
Control is what I fall back on in the event that others at large lose theirs. If that happens in a big way, I have taken measures through prepping to make sure I keep mine even if they lose theirs. “The waiting is the hardest part” just kidding..
Ultimately it ties into your points like independence and freedom ,and knowing who or what is in control over you and your stuff is a big deal. “Possession being 9/10ths of the law”
Lol, before I even read the second paragraph, I was actually thinking exactly that! Had in my mind to say, “Control is actually a great way to summarize a lot of these into one solid word” :)
You’re very right about it tying together points like independence and freedom, so many of these points actually. And if you have enough control over a situation, you’ll almost certainly be able to get through it. Great points, Dan!
I’m self employed so some months are better than others. Prepping helps my family when we have a rough month, our food storage is pretty vast so not having to go food shopping for a month or two really helps us out financially.
Very excellent article and all good points. In fact prepping is the best way to live. The only, but most important, preparation not mentioned was that of spiritual preparedness for eternity. Jesus Christ provides our ONLY means of permanent escape from the coming tribulation. NOW is the day of salvation. He forgives all and makes anew. He is the God of new beginnings. When you fall He will pick you up again. Current headlines are fulfilling Biblical prophecy and it is all happening fast.
We cannot stop what God has ordained. All we can do is be aware and PREPARE!
Thank you.
Great post. Being prepared is just common sense and your post shows the many reasons to do so.
Peace of mind is why I prep. These are all awesome reasons.
It’s a huge reason why I prep as well. I can’t imagine how worried I’d feel without at least a few of the most basic preps (at least a small food stockpile and a financial emergency fund). I do feel that the more prepared I get, the less overall anxiety I feel.
I stumbled on this article while reading survival blogs and I believe what I have read on this site. Except one thing. Elise Xavier is way to pretty to be a prepper assuming the picture is true. Very cute.
Lol that’s so nice! :) Thank you, Don! :)